Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start levying fines of upto Rs 15,000 for illegal parking from Sunday. BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi had directed that action be taken on vehicles involved in illegal parking within a radius of 500 meters of the 23 authorised public parking space by imposing fines of Rs 5,000 for two-wheelers to Rs 15,000 for heavy vehicles. The fine will also include towing charges.
With a penalty for late payment, it could go up to as much as Rs 23,250. To curb unauthorised parking outside designated parking lots and to recover the fine and for effective implementation of the scheme, the administration has hired ex-servicemen to assist the traffic police.
Apart from the 23 authorised public parking spaces, there are also 20-odd BEST (civic bus service) depots where motorists can park their vehicles, when buses are plying on the roads.
The decision to hike the fine was announced in June, and drew a lot of flak. So BMC's Improvement Committee requested the administration to postpone the date of implementation and asked that the proposal first be discussed by public representatives in the meeting. However, BMC refused to accede to the request and now it will be implemented from Sunday.
